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Like Flies from Afar

Kike Ferrari,

Adrian Nathan West (Translation)

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Nov 02, 2020 Tony rated it it was ok

Shelves: novels, crime, translated-fiction, setting-south-america

I read a lot of crime fiction from around the world and so was interested to check out this slender Argentine book (it can be easily read in under 3 hours). It's got a very lean premise -- we open with wealthy crooked nightclub owner and businessman Mr. Machi engaged in a sexual act with a side of cocaine. He descends to his $200,000 BMW, and starts home, only to be interrupted by finding a dead man in his trunk. The rest of the book traces the hours after, in which he scrambles to deal with the I read a lot of crime fiction from around the world and so was interested to check out this slender Argentine book (it can be easily read in under 3 hours). It's got a very lean premise -- we open with wealthy crooked nightclub owner and businessman Mr. Machi engaged in a sexual act with a side of cocaine. He descends to his $200,000 BMW, and starts home, only to be interrupted by finding a dead man in his trunk. The rest of the book traces the hours after, in which he scrambles to deal with the situation -- along with many flashbacks to episodes in his life, and some brief moments in the lives of others.

One of the major themes of the noir genre in fiction and film is that one can never escape their past. That's certainly on display here, as Machi mentally cycles through his misdeeds, trying to figure out who has done this and why (interestingly, he doesn't seem to think the identity of the body is particularly important as a clue). This theme works particularly well in Argentina, as we get a glimpse into how Machi got his initial boost during the Dirty War years.

Noir is also a genre that often seduces the reader/viewer to consider how they might react in a tight jam, and that's certainly at play here. However, the book is also filled with over-the-top pulp elements -- considering how short the book is, there is a lot of explicit violence and sex. I don't have any particular issues with that, however a lot of the blurbs for the book seem to imply that it's more meaningful or "raw" than it actually is.

If you're looking for a short pulp novel from Argentina, then sure, try this -- just be aware that it's not great writing or literature or anything close. Yes, you might read Mr. Machi's crisis as a parable about the rich and powerful of Argentina -- but that's a pretty generous gloss on a pretty basic story about a nasty criminal. I kept trying to find some deeper layers of meaning (for example "machi" is the term used for a shaman of one of the belief systems of indiginous people native to parts of Argentina -- is that meaningful? no idea...), but the whole thing felt more like a film treatment for a low-budget '90s neo-noir than anything else. ...more

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Mar 25, 2016 Ching-In marked it as to-read · review of another edition

May 04, 2020 Vesra (When She Reads) marked it as to-read

Shelves: e-book, l, author-f, fiction, mystery-thrillers, c-green, pc-200-299, tbr-2020

Dec 18, 2023 Pam rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2023-books-read, audio-book, argentina, crime-fiction

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